Automatic Litterbox Central

First, let me say I cannot (will not) live without our litter-robot. Sadly, however, after 2 years of trouble free use our LR is dead (and out of warrenty).

Recently we ran into two problems that did our LR in. The first problem was not fatal. A small rip in the rubber lining was allowing clean litter to be wasted. I had plans to patch this with a peace of rubber, but then a second fatal problem developed, leading to the untimely passing of our beloved LR. This problem occured suddently when the electronics totally freaked out. The LR no longer knows where to start and end it's cycle. At the end of the cycle the globe goes too far and dumps clean litter into the bottom before locking up and failing to return back to center. For now I'm manually running the LR by unplugging it until a new one arrives.

Since I have problems with both the globe and the base, and we need a working LR ASAP, I decided to go ahead and order a brand new unit. Even though the unit is dead after only 2 years, I still feel it was well worth the cost.

While we willing purchased a new unit, it's certainly not ideal. In the future it would be nice to see a more advanced version of the LR that could easily be serviced at home and cleanned more easily. Each of the major components should be snap-in modules that can be quickly overnighted and then snapped in placed by the customer. While I'm wishing for a better unit, the globe and base should easily open up (without tools) and come apart to allow easy access for both cleaning and service.

A snap-together design might also help the LR to get distributed on a retail basis with a lower cost. If all the parts of the unit were based on snap-together design then the unit could be packaged into a smaller box for easy retail distribution. Not having to rivet the thing together would also cut the cost of production, since the end user would snap-together all the peaces. In reality the LR is made of of very simple components, so a modular design shouldn't be all that hard to come up with.

i love my lr but for 400 bucks it better last for 10 years! im actually pretty upset to hear yours already stopped working, and if 2 years is the magic number then ill be sending mine in near the end of my warranty to get it serviced to make sure everythign is still okay with it

I'm sure the unit could be fixed with a new circuit board, and I could patch the whole in the liner without too much effort. Our big problem is we're planning to be out of town soon and we don't have time to send in our current unit and wait to get it back.

I agree it SHOULD last longer, but compared to the horror stories I've heard about litter-maid and litter-free, the LR is a dream machine. IMO the LR is truly the only viable automated litter box on the market, and given the choice of a machine that works flawlessly for two years or doing it by hand, I'm willing to the pay the price.

A couple of comments:

Molly's LR started stalling and basically misbehaving a couple of months ago.

A couple of quick E-Mails to Lauren and she had a replacement circuit board enroute.

The board is held in with four screws, and there are a couple of connectors that are pretty obvious -- replacing the board is not rocket science (I am qualified to make that statement).

It only took a couple of minutes, and the LR has worked flawlessly since.

Replacing the motor might be a little tougher, but it's probably doable. So is replacing the base, but if I remember correctly, the globe was damaged too.

As customer service goes, Lauren is the best. It would have been interesting to find out what repair options were available.

I'll give them call this week and see what it will cost to get a new circuit board. If it's the part is cheap enough I'll go ahead and fix the old unit as a backup just in case something should ever goes wrong with the new unit.

Speaking of the new unit, I received it today and I must say I like the emprovements over the original model. First the kicken-kitty guards are not only included with the new model, but they're rivetted on. The old ones were and add-on with double-sided tape and overtime they had problems staying on. Secondly, the waste ports are now located on the top half of the globe. This is great move. Even with the KK guards on the old unit, one of our cats (Roxie) somehow managed to kick litter out the side. This change alone makes me glad I went with a new unit. Finally, I also think I will like the plastic bag approach to the waste tray. The originally unit had a smaller pan inside the larger pan and I think just clippling in a trash bag in the main pan will be less of a hassle.